Haiti

We often take for granted what we have, everyone is prone to it, it is the 'nature of the beast', being human or however you want to phrase it. When a disaster takes place we will then think, wow, we have it pretty good. Sometimes we getted bogged with the small things and don't look at the big picture. As a student, I used to think, I can't wait to get out of school and get on with my life. I say to you students: Enjoy your life where you are now! Look for the good, don't dwell on the bad. If you have a roof over your head, enough heat and food to survive, you are better off than a major part of the world. Home life not going the greatest but you have some friends, then you still have some positives in your life. If situations become to hard, look for others to help you. Never think that there isn't a way to improve, even if it is to look at - get the best education you can now and then be able to do what YOU WANT TO DO WITH THAT LIFE. Don't be satisfied with the status quo, make life better, for you and others. Globaloria is about looking at the world with a global view, not just about yourself but about others. One of the games created was about Haiti. It kind of puts into perspective what we have here. Go to this site: http://ayiti.newzcrew.org/ayitiunicef/ (you'll have to copy and paste url) and play this little game to relate to what is going on in Haiti now. If you can, donate to the Red Cross or other relief funds; if you can't, see what you can do in your own part of the world to make it a better place. What do you think? Post on your blogs a reply to this message and tell how you can improve 'our own back yard".

Be a Hooker

Ah, got your attention with that one didn’t I? And that is what we have to do, to find the hook that will make students want to learn because the learning has become the most important thing to them. We snag them with the hook of ‘you get to create video games' but it turns into the students buying into the system of the process of gathering information,assimilating the information and then turning that information into a relevant, viable learning situation via a video game format. It goes back to my last post I think, we have to create the environment where their first priority (at the very least while they are in the classroom) is to work on building the best, most informative game ever designed.
I think that I sometimes I go about it the wrong way, telling the students that there are deadlines that they have to meet. I believe that I will begin appealing to their pride a little more, showing them examples of what has been done and appealing to their competitive spirit. I hope that it will begin as extrinsic motivation that morphs into a more intrinsic style of learning. I do know that different students have different motivators and that we need to find the ‘hook’ for each one.

Priorities

Priorities, priorities, what do we do first? Quite often we neglect what needs to be done, like this blog. As you can see from my previous one, it has been a while since I posted anything. I've noticed that students have a difficult time putting their education at the front of their own priority list. Why is that? Right now, especially for a high school student, their education should be at the top. Some high school students work, some are in sports or other extra-curricular activities and they forget that their Number 1 priority is their education. IF you don't have a good education it will be very difficult to be where you want to be later in life.
Scene 1: Teacher meets former student out in the community a couple of years after the student has graduated from high school. "Hey there 'former student' (names protected), how's it going?" Former student replies "Well Mrs. Neal, not so good, I really wish that I had not missed as much school as I did" or "I wish I had paid more attention in class"; I'm just not able to get a job like I want". Some will say that they just couldn't make it in college or they just don't understand why they can't keep a job or get a higher paying job.
Students need to learn how to process information, apply the knowledge they have gained to real world situations, critical problem solve ON THEIR OWN and to have long term goals and work towards them. Coming to school and wanting to learn as much as possible is the way to achieve their goals.
Scene 2: Teacher meets former student out in the community a couple of years after the student has graduated from high school. "Hey there 'former student' (names protected), how's it going?" "Well, Mrs. Neal, do you remember when I thought about getting a job after school so I could get a car? And we talked about it and I decided that maybe it was too much to do and still keep up with school stuff?" " I remember" "Well, it has paid off, I've made the Dean's list in College and I've earned another scholarship! I've even got a really good job lined up for when I graduate doing what I've always wanted to do!"
Too simplified? Obviously! But you should get the point, we all need to figure out what our top priorities should be FOR THAT MOMENT and act accordingly. We would all get much more accomplished and be more successful.